The Poo-Powered Bus Hits a Land Speed Record

The poop-powered bus is officially one fast son-of-a-bitch. As reported Friday by Ars Technica, the bus recently hit a top speed of 76.8 miles per hour at the Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire—a record for a regular service bus.

“It was an impressive sight as it swept by on the track,” chief engineer John Bickerton told the BBC. “It sounded like a Vulcan bomber.”

The “Bus Hound” (name inspired by the British Bloodhound supersonic car) runs on biomethane produced by the anaerobic digestion of cow poo in a bioreactor. The methane is compressed, liquefied and stored in a series of tanks fixed to the inside of the bus’s roof. Naturally, the bus is painted black and white to look like a Friesian cow.

Now, those of us who have any familiarity with the Speed movies have clearly seen faster buses. Even outside the realm of 90s action-flicks, to be recognised as a Guinness World Record, the bus would have to reach speeds of above 150 miles per hour, according to the BBC. But compared to its oil-eating counterparts, which typically max out around 56 miles per hour, the poo-bus isn’t looking too shabby. Despite sounding like the end of days.

The next step, of course, will be to race the Bus Hound against the human poo-powered bus, and learn once and for all whose shit packs more punch.